


The Magic Sofa

by NotLostAnymore



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 18:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotLostAnymore/pseuds/NotLostAnymore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s after three days that Nate decides that although Chuck’s sofa is more expensive and made with better material, he finds Dan’s far easier to sleep on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Magic Sofa

It’s after three days that Nate decides that although Chuck’s sofa is more expensive and made with better material, he finds Dan’s far easier to sleep on. He just sort of sinks into it and he doesn’t have to try and sleep through the noises of Chuck’s escapades with whatever women he’s brought home. Sometimes he can faintly hear the noises of Dan typing on his laptop or Jenny at her sowing machine, or even Rufus strumming on a guitar lightly but it’s peaceful and quiet in the loft. Not eerily quiet like his own townhouse had become, but a homely quiet. The Loft is pretty homely in general. As is the Humphrey Lifestyle, complete with waffles and the chequered shirts Dan had lent him.

He doesn’t really miss Chuck as much as he thought he would. They’d been best friends for their entire lives, he was basically Chuck’s only friend and yet he didn’t feel much remorse over the death of their friendship. Chuck had gone too far by getting Dan kidnapped and tied up to a pole just because he wanted to protect Nate or something. He wasn’t even sure what Chuck’s excuse was, but it just wasn’t acceptable. Whatever Dan had done – if he’d done anything at all – to piss Chuck off, it wasn’t bad enough to cause that sort of revenge, was it? He couldn’t imagine Dan doing anything to hurt anyone, even Chuck. In fact, he couldn’t picture any of Humphrey’s deliberately hurting people.  
Walking to school with Dan helps him get to know the other boy better. He hadn’t really known much, only vicious rumours he suspected Chuck had spread and what he’d heard from Serena or even Gossip Girl. He didn’t like to admit it, but on the odd occasion, he did check the site. It was hard to keep up with everyone else if you didn’t. He learnt that Dan wrote a lot, which to be fair, he’d already guessed from spotting Dan sitting alone during school, writing endlessly. But he had no idea Dan wrote stories and sometimes dabbled with poetry, and that he never let anyone read his stories, only Vanessa.

He learnt that Dan lost his virginity to Serena last Christmas in the gallery. That had taken a while to get out of him but once that was out, Nate admitted he lost his to Serena too and suddenly they both felt a little more trusting of the other. It was weird how things worked like that. And he learnt that Dan was worried about Jenny becoming like Blair because he didn’t think he could bear to look at her if she was like that. Nate can sympathize with him on this. Jenny’s a good girl and as much as he and Blair have been friends for as long as he can remember, he wouldn’t want Jenny to be like her if he was her brother.

Sure, there were awkward moments between them, especially just after Nate had moved in with them, no matter how hard all three Humphreys had tried to make things normal for him. Jenny especially seemed to be putting a lot of effort into getting him settled in. She’s a sweet girl and her heart is in the right place. So was Dan’s. He was sure Chuck would have offered him a place to stay too, but Dan beat him to the punch and in many ways Nate was thankful. It was nice to get out of the Upper East Side for a while. He didn’t really see why Chuck had so many issues with Brooklyn; it was actually a rather nice place.

Nate had been living with them for three weeks and had pretty much settled into his new daily routine when something happened he hadn’t counted on. Dan had been telling him about this story he’d written a while back about a young guy from Brooklyn falling in love with an actress who couldn’t make her mind up, and Nate just wanted to understand what was going on because Dan talked at a hundred miles per hour and was pretty hard to follow. So he had decided he’d sneak into Dan’s room when he was in the shower, find the story and then read it when he was next alone.

He’d found the story in about two minutes flat and had glanced over the title – Savannah Woods – when he stopped. He was pretty sure it had been about Serena from what Dan had told him, but he hadn’t expected it to be so glaringly obvious. He quickly glanced down the page and spotted the name “Nick Arthur”. Was it a coincidence that the character shared his initials or had Dan actually written about him?

He’d read half of the first page which was nothing but a description of Savannah’s blonde hair by the time that Dan walked in, wearing only a towel and still dripping wet.  
It took Nate several seconds to react and he just ogled awkwardly at Dan, who was staring at him with a look of surprise and confusion. Suddenly Nate threw the story to the side and smiled sheepishly. Dan just frowned at him and Nate cleared his throat, weakly saying, “Um… hey.” He wanted to hit himself for his inability to cover up his actions.

“Hey,” Dan said, sounding very confused. And then, a second later, “Were you reading my story?” 

Nate’s mouth opened and closed rather stupidly as he tried to think of something to say. It was pretty obvious he had, but he didn’t know how Dan would react if he admitted to it. Sure, he didn’t look angry now but Dan was unpredictable at the best of times. “Um… yes?” Nate offered, glancing away from Dan’s eyes. Unfortunately, his gaze then fell on Dan’s glistening chest and he only briefly noted that Dan was more toned than he’d expected before he realized just what he was doing and glanced over at Dan’s cabbage patch kid.  
“That’s cool,” Dan said with a shrug, moving further into the room. He picked up the story and threw it back over at Nate. “But if you don’t mind, I sorta need to put some clothes on and I’m not sure how you feel about full frontal nudity so perhaps it might be best for you to read it out there,” he said, nodding towards the living area. 

Nate’s cheeks flushed rather embarrassingly and he simply nodded and hurried out of the room, his hands tightly clasping the story. He didn’t notice Dan’s arched eyebrow at his rapid exit. He quickly threw himself down on the sofa, not even glancing at the story. He couldn’t believe that he’d just mentally commented on Dan’s physique. Sure, it would have been worse if he’d said it out loud but still, it made him slightly uncomfortable that he’d basically ogled Dan. 

Nate reminded himself that he’d seen most of the soccer team after their showers before and that meant nothing so he calmed himself down and started to read the story. However, he couldn’t quite shake the little voice in the back of his head reminding him of the way that he’d seen the little droplets of water roll down Dan’s chest, over the faint outline of the six-pack that Nate was generally surprised to have seen. He’d never thought Dan was particularly unfit but he hadn’t expected him to be in that good a shape. Shaking his head and gritting his teeth, he tried to focus back on the story but quickly realized he couldn’t. Throwing it down on the table, he glanced up to see Dan walking out of his room, now thankfully fully clothed. “That bad, huh?” he asked and Nate immediately went a deep red.

“No, no!” he protested, quickly snatching it up again. “I was, uh…” his brain struggled to find an excuse, “Just going to get a drink. It helps me read.” He smiled foolishly to try and back up his point and it seemed to work because Dan nodded and walked over to the counter with Nate.

Nate quickly busied himself with making a coffee, all too aware of Dan’s eyes piercing the back of his skull. “So what do you think so far?” he asked and Nate hesitated. He hadn’t really been focussing much on the story. 

“It’s good!” he said, perhaps a little too quickly because Dan shot him a confusing glance. Nate quickly hurried himself with making the coffee, all too aware of the fact that Dan was watching him with eagle eyes. It made him feel rather uncomfortable. “I, uh… liked the description” he offered, glancing over at Dan and smiling. This seemed to reassure the other man who began to waffle on at his usual inhuman speed and Nate quickly zoned out. About half an hour later, he made an excuse to leave and then spent the rest of the day walking around Manhattan, determined not to think about Dan. It was harder than expected.

It was a whole week before the next incident had happened. He’d been curious to read another of Dan’s stories – the first had turned out to be rather good – when he’d sat down on Dan’s bed. He hadn’t quite realized how comfortable it was before. Frowning slightly, he then laid down on it. Like the Humphrey sofa, he just sort of sunk into it. He was home alone at the time, so he was feeling pretty certain he wouldn’t get caught and then snuck under the covers. He hadn’t counted on falling asleep.

Three hours later, he heard the door open and his eyelids fluttered open, straining against the light that suddenly illuminated the room. “Nate! Hey!” came Dan’s voice from the doorway. Nate immediately scrambled out of the bed, his cheeks aflame again. “I was feeling sick!” he quickly blurted out, his voice shaking. Dan merely smiled and nodded in a knowing manner, before shrugging.

“That’s cool. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said politely. He moved to shut the door, before stopping and asking, “Do you want me to get you anything? Coffee?”

Nate just gaped for a few moments before smiling and saying, “That would be great.”

After Dan had left, he sighed and shook his head, before walking back to the bed and settling back inside of the warm quilts. He decided he really liked Dan’s bed more than he should have. By the time the other man came back with the coffee, Nate was already asleep again. Dan just watched him in bemusement for a few minutes, before taking a book and reading until the early hours of the morning.

Nate woke up the next morning with his arm wrapped around the sleeping form of Dan. Within a second, he pulled his hand back, escaped from under the covers and quickly fled the Loft. Five minutes later, his speedy exit was chronicled on Gossip Girl and earned him a confused phone call from Serena. He brushed it off with some random excuse but it seemed to work.

By time he got home that evening, he found Dan waiting for him, sitting on the sofa with a coffee in his hand. He raised a hand in greeting. Nate nodded back and sat on one of the armchairs. “Good day out?” asked Dan, his expression unreadable.

Nate just shrugged and said, “It was alright. How was your day?” He could see that there was something different about Dan, but he just couldn’t work out what.

“Alright.”

There was several minutes silence before Nate finally spoke up and said he was going for a shower. Dan just nodded, taking a sip out of his coffee. A little put out, Nate walked off and stepped into the bathroom. Quickly stripping, he began to ran the hot water and stepped inside. He closed off his mind and started to wash himself, ignoring all his confusion about why he had freaked out over waking up next to Dan and why the other man was being strange.

It probably would have been easier had Dan not stumbled into the bathroom a few minutes later.

“Oh God!” came the cry, alerting Nate to Dan’s presence. “I completely forgot! I’m so sorry,” Dan protested, beginning to step out.

Nate felt like an idiot for not locking the door, and now he felt embarrassed for Dan, but for some reason he was getting hard over the thought of Dan seeing him naked. He was just glad the shower had frosted glass so Dan couldn’t see what was happening to his body. “That’s alright,” he mumbled as Dan left, looking down at his length in confusion. Just what was going on with him? First the staring at Dan and then the sleeping in his bed and now this?

Did this make him gay?

Nate wasn’t really sure how a person became gay. Did they even become gay? Were they born that way? Had he been born gay? All the questions made his head hurt so he just decided he was straight and that was the end of it.

After that, it was rather difficult for him to focus on cleaning himself when he kept on brushing past his length which really wasn’t helping much. However, he still had a bit more dignity than to jack off in the shower, so he ignored it for as long as possible. As soon as he was satisfied he was clean enough, he stepped out of the shower and quickly looked around for a towel.

His face fell when he realized there were none in the bathroom.

Slowly tiptoeing towards the door, he pushed it slightly ajar and peered out. Dan was nowhere to be seen, but the door to his room was open. He could probably dash over there and grab some clothes without anyone seeing him.

Even as he pushed the door open and made his first frantic steps towards Dan’s room, he knew something was going to go wrong. However, it wasn’t until he reached the doorway that it did – because Dan stepped out at that exact moment and Nate barrelled into him, knocking them both to the floor with Nate on top, still naked, still wet and still hard.

Understandably, there was a long pause during which neither spoke nor moved, simply stared the other straight in the eye.

And then Dan reached up and kissed Nate, putting a hand in his hair and pulling his lips down onto his own. Although he was taken aback, Nate responded to the kiss before he realized just what he was doing and pulled back.

“Dan… what are you doi-”

His voice was weak, confused, but he didn’t break eye contact with Dan. The other teen smirked and said, “Well where do you think the towels went?”  
Before Nate even had time to think about that, Dan was kissing him again, his hands trailing down his back to squeeze his butt. Nate shifted in alarm, but kept his lips on Dan’s. 

“Bed. Now!” he commanded Dan, his voice muffled by the kisses. Smirking, Dan lifted him to his feet and pulled him back into his room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Sure enough, four towels were in a pile on the floor and Dan smirked when he saw Nate spot them. 

“Well I had to get your attention somehow,” he said, whilst moving up behind Nate and kissing the back of his neck. Nate reached his arm up behind him, stroking the back of Dan’s head before turning and pushing him up against the wall, taking command for the first time. He kissed Dan again, far more passionate than before, although his mind was still conflicted. He had no idea what he was doing or whether it was right, but it just felt good. He’d kissed Chuck once before, but they’d both been drunk and he couldn’t remember it. He just knew that kissing Dan was different, just like kissing Blair was different to kissing Serena or Vanessa.

And hell, everybody liked to experiment.

“Dan? Nate?!”

Nate immediately sprung away from Dan as Jenny’s voice rang through the apartment. He immediately scrambled for some clothes, hastily throwing them on and well aware that Dan was watching his every move.

As soon as Nate had hastily thrown his clothes on, Dan walked over and quickly pecked him on the lips before turning and unlocking the door. He slipped out with a brief backwards glance towards Nate and a wink. Nate just stood there in the room, more confused than ever and still dripping wet through the clothes. He frowned, watching as Dan made his way over to Jenny at the breakfast counter. 

What had that meant? Did Dan want him? Was Dan gay? Was he gay now too because he enjoyed it? All the questions made Nate’s head hurt so he just scratched the back of his head and collapsed back on the bed.

Jenny glanced over at Dan, raising her eyebrows expectantly and saying slyly, “So… Did it work?”

After a second, her brother broke into a wide grin and said, “Of course it did!” Jenny let out a squeal but a glare from Dan quickly silenced her. Still grinning, he nodded happily and said, “And now I’ll agree to every advice you give me ever again.”

Jenny just nodded, smiling and then paused, saying slowly with a glance towards Dan’s room, “So are you just going to leave him in there?”

Dan glanced over at Nate who he could distantly see on the bed, before smiling back at Jenny. He reached into his pocket and placed a twenty dollar note in her palm. “Catch you later?”

Jenny just smiled, already heading for the door as she called out, “Of course. Have fun with your boyfriend!” Dan chuckled, watching her leave, before shaking his head and making his way back to Nate.

Now where had they got to?

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old fic I wrote back at the start of 2011 for a friend. It's never been beta'd so go easy on it!


End file.
